What is Landscape by Heather Ring

Today we were lucky enough to have an afternoon of lectures from some very interesting & inspiring people, representing their companies & giving us a look into their work. The question raised was 'What is Landscape?' All the guest speakers gave their own interpretation of what they believe Landscape Is.

Heather Ring - Wayward Plants

• Plant Exchange: unwanted plants to create gardens.
• Plant adoption: ability for the public to "adopt" unwanted plants
• Guerilla Gardening: Planting/creating gardens without permission. Wayward Plants created a Guerilla garden on the corner of Upper Street next to the infamous Foundry.
• The Union Street Urban Orchard: created using all recycled materials (ie. palettes), contained a number of interactive elements, including; cider making shed, greenhouses, outdoor cinema, plant exchange & much more. There were a number of people who actually lived on the site in "eco-pods", these people helped manage & look after the site.
• Garden for medicine: another interactive garden to promote the history & information behind plants used for mecidinal use.
• Algae Garden (proposed): algae is a potential bio-fuel, this garden will celebrate the beauty of algae which main people do not realise.
  
• Little known history of Kensington Gardens - Camoflague: the use of plants & natural processes as a camoflague.

A brief rough quote from Heather on her views of What is Landscape? - "Landscape is an exploration at small scale...a way to see how people interact. Due to the economy small scale & temporary is often all you can do, are allowed to do."

I found Heather's presentation very interesting, it really opened my eyes to the way that small scale, temporary projects can really make a huge difference & attract such attention. I had seen the Union Street Urban Orchard on a website last summer & had fully planned to go....I'm now upset I let it slip my mind. I think she will offer a lot of inspiration to a lot of us, who maybe have worried about the prospect of working in an office with several layers of superiors, never feeling you are working towards what you really feel drives your enthusiam & inspirations.

Click here to find out more about Heather & Wayward Plants' work

What is Landscape - Christian Spencer Davies

Christian Spencer Davies - AMODELS

• Architectural model makers: majority of their work is for contemporary architectural companies

• Unconventional model making: no realistic models, no white models, no "model railway style" models. They do not like to work as conventional model makers who create life-like representations, their work is individual, creative, imaginative & abstract

• Models by AMODELS can be made from a variety of materials, including: timber, metal, embroidery, perspex, paper & many more. All of which are quite conventional model making materials, however AMODELS use the materials in ways that others do not.

• They often work with big names, such as; Gustafson Porter, Zaha Hadid, Will Alsop, working with these designers to create individual & striking pieces.

• Projects they have created models for include; 'Diana Princess of Wales Memorial' in Hyde Park, 'Gardens by the Bay' in Singapore, models for films, including a huge model used in the 'Landscape Architecture studio' of Jude Laws in the film "Breaking & Entering"

Below are a couple of my favourite models by AMODELS:

Christian had very interesting & inspiring views on his client relationships, which really stood out to me. He has little interest in being told what to do throughout a project, & prefers to be allowed artistic licence of his own to create a beautiful model of what he has interpretted from the architects/designers ideas.

Click here to see more of AMODELS portfolio

V&A Architectural Model Exhibition

Villa Stein-de Monzie, Le Corbusier (built 1926-8)

Le Corbusier was the pioneer of 'Modern Architecture' & the 'International style' of architecture. He was an architect, artist, designer, urbanist & writer born in Switzerland. The model shows his Villa Stein-de Monzie in Garches, France. The building has been described as having "isolated space", surrounded by gardens & open spaces created by terraces. The concept came from the idea of ocean liners, & 16th century Palladian homes. This was my favourite model, not necessarily because of the actual structure, but the materials used, mainly the contrast between the light material used for the building itself & the dark surrounding trees.

Gatwick Airport Terminal, Hoar Marlow & Lovett (built 1935-6)

This was the first airport terminal to give passengers direct, covered access to the aircraft. The interior was carefully considered & designed to seperate streams of passengers, this was done with three telescopic tunnels that brought passengers from arrivals into customs & the immigration halls. Another three tunnels connected the passenger lounges to the departing planes. For the time I think this was quite an ingenious design & layout, however when you think what Gatwick airport is like today it is a very different story! Just the size comparison is astonishing, but then today you can fly to any destination in the world which is very different how it was nearly 100 years ago.

Bluewater, Eric Kuhne & Associates (built 1996-9)

Bluewater, in Greenhithe, Kent, is the UK's largest shopping mall. Nine million people live within one hour's drive of the centre. The design is so that it houses leisure facilities, shops & restaurants all under one roof, similar to most shopping centres. The triangular shape holds 320 outlets, in three seperate districts, all aimed at different markets. The model was quite impressive, it clearly illustrated the expanse of the centre & the variations of buildings & usages within the site.

BedZED Sustainable Housing, Bill Dunster Architects (built 1999-2001)

Bedddinton Zero Energy Development (BedZED) in Wallington, Surrey, is the UK's largest mixed use sustainable development, incorporating housing, workspace & community facilities. Normal people have moved into the development to live more sustainable & environmentally friendly lives. Every aspect of life is monitored & all sustainable alternatives are used throughout their lives, from water & electricity usage, food products, waste, transport, housing & many more aspects. I saw this model at the V&A as was so intrigued I decided to make a visit as it is just 10 miles away from Kingston. The development is pretty amazing, it is function, efficient & quirkily attractive. Unfortunately I was unable to take photos as this is where people actually live, however I was given permission to take photos from the BedZED website (http://www.bioregional.com/what-we-do/our-work/bedzed/)

These are the models I created for the Greenpeace Airplot project (semester 2). Although quickly made & quite rough they had quite a cool effect, I think, of displaying my proposal. The first model was made from plasticine, cocktail sticks & freshly cut grass. The second, slightly more detailed & representational, was using the same plasticine for the mound, but then painted balsar wood stuck together with glue. When added into a visualisation they took on a completely different look (see image at the bottom)

Mysterious Shadows

Artist Kumi Yamashita's work explores two truths: things are not always as they seem, & sometimes people need to view things in a different light to discover a new meaning or truth. Simple wall-mounted cut-outs reveal unexpected, life-like shadows.

"Origami" - Each of the coloured pieces of card mounted on the wall, lit up from the right, project a silhoutte of a profile onto the wall.

Yamashita uses simple materials; slim pieces of wood, squares of paper, & aluminium letters & numbers. All of her installations have meaning behind them, for exampe the use of letters & numbers creating a profile to symbolize the thoughts & words that may be going through his head.

'Strange Worlds' by Matthew Albanese

From looking at the photography Matthew Albanese produces you have to think what a lucky guy he is; always being in the right place at the right time. His photos have captured such things as volcanic eruptions, raging tornados, a burning room & many more. But how does he know when he will be able to catch these incredible rare occurances on film???.....


.....He doesn't, all of the photos above are fake. He is not only a photographer but a very detailed model maker. He creates small-scale miniature landscapes, which he calls his 'Strange Worlds', & then he photographs them.

These are some of the models I made for first year projects; the first for a redesign of Knight's Park Quad & the second for the space outside the Royal National Theatre on the Southbank in London.